NYU’s First Amendment Watch and the Pulitzer Center have launched a database tracking potentially meritless and malicious lawsuits designed to silence the press
First Amendment Watch, a project of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, has launched the SLAPP Back Initiative, a new database tracking SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public participation).
SLAPPs are legal actions intended to intimidate and burden critics with costly, time-consuming litigation, discouraging them from speaking out or investigating matters of public interest.
The database focuses on more than 500 cases decided in 2024 in US states, half of which were dismissed under anti-SLAPP laws, highlighting the importance of such legal safeguards for free speech.
Supported by the Pulitzer Center, the SLAPP Back Initiative aims to identify common targets, track trends across states, and bring greater transparency and accountability to an issue that has long lacked both.
This article was drafted by an AI assistant before it was edited by a human